This has been such a unique and challenging time, on stay-at-home orders during a global pandemic. I have the sense I should write a blog post about what’s going on in our lives and how we’re managing for the sake of posterity, but I’m just not ready. I’m still processing and trying to figure out how to navigate everything.
For today, I’m going to embrace the joy of the Easter season and share a light-hearted look at some things I’ve been enjoying. Hopefully it will serve as a fun distraction from the world’s chaos. <3
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I have a new favorite book — Kristin Lavransdattar by Sigrid Undset. I do not mean my favorite book this year or even the last decade. I mean my favorite EVER. It’s actually a trilogy, but the digital copy I borrowed from the library came as one 1,268 page adventure.
The story follows a woman in the 1300’s in Norway from the time she is a small child until her death, with loads of love and drama and adventure in between. Her life is not easy, but it is beautiful.
Will someone I know pretty please read it so we can discuss?!?! I’m not joking when I write I’m thinking about rereading it again soon. That is so rare for me. There are only a couple books I reread and even those are reread yearly vs. in such close proximity to the original reading experience.
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On Easter Sunday I made my Grandma’s broccoli salad for the first time. It’s something we would’ve had at our family Easter celebration, so it brought me comfort and helped me feel like we were still keeping some of our traditions in spite of the inability to gather in person.
This is the closest recipe I could find online, though I’m pretty sure my Grandma used bacon bits and left out the onions because my Grandpa doesn’t like them. I used the fresh bacon I had on hand and included the onion.
We’ve already finished all of it and I’m wishing I had doubled the batch!
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Prior to the stay-at-home orders, my Mom and I attended a talk on Emotional Virtue with Sarah Swafford at a neighboring church. Friends!!!! I wish I had heard Sarah speak when I was a 13 year old, though that would be impossible because she is only a year older than me. I suspect it would’ve changed my life, but really we’ll never know. I highly recommend showing this video to your tween/teenagers, getting the book, and even watching it yourself.
As a society, we spend so much time working on academics, our careers, and our physical bodies. But character? It is neglected! Sarah challenged the audience to pursue a virtuous life, even offering a virtue challenge where you work on specific skills each week.
I started the challenge this week with the first feminine virtue, “Gentle and kind.” The worksheet has you write down 3 ways to do this and 3 obstacles to doing it. I also looked up 5 supporting pieces of scripture as motivation to post on my monitor so I see them while I’m working. I’ll let you know if I’m feeling more gentle and kind soon, though maybe a better measure of that would be to ask my husband. 😉
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Matter + Spirit album from The Candles. Features one of my old favs, Norah Jones, and is very relaxing and chill. Something we could all use more of now!
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This prayer from Brick House In The City touched my heart, and I thought it might be helpful for you, too.
Friends, I’m praying you are all staying safe and healthy! What has brought you joy the last few weeks? Is there a special way I can pray for you during this challenging time?